A federal judge in Georgia on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood that sought to postpone two Jan. 5 runoff races in the state.
Wood argued that Georgia’s process for handling absentee ballots violates state law, specifically the way the state verifies signatures as well as the processing of ballots ahead of Election Day. He also took issue with the use of drop boxes to collect ballots.
Wood’s lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr. denied Wood’s request for a temporary restraining order and said Wood’s claims of potential voter fraud were “too speculative.” He also asserted Wood’s case lacked standing.
“However, even taking his statement as true, Wood’s allegations shows only the ‘possibility of future inquiry’ based on a series of events – which falls short of the requirement to establish a concrete injury,'” Batten wrote. He added that Wood’s claims “plainly contemplate only the possibility of future harm and do not conclusively demonstrate a future injury.”
Wood tweeted that he had filed more evidence in the case and that “Judge Timothy Batten cannot deny [the] existence of evidence.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, applauded the case dismissal.
“The numerous baseless and frivolous lawsuits, funded by unsuspecting Georgians who are being duped by Wood, are just the latest in a long history of lawsuits to go nowhere in Georgia,” he said in a statement.
Wood has claimed Georgia’s presidential election was rigged. He and another Trump ally, Sidney Powell, held a “Stop the Steal” rally on Dec. 2 in Alpharetta, Georgia, where they repeated claims of voter fraud, called on Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to be locked up, and urged supporters to boycott the crucial January races that could hand power of the Senate to Democrats.
Batten dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by Powell earlier this month.
The Jan. 5 runoff elections pit Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
If Perdue and Loeffler beat Ossoff and Warnock, the GOP will maintain its current control of the upper chamber of Congress and could push back on every nominee and piece of legislation on President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda.
If Ossoff and Warnock win, it would give Democrats a 50-50 split, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris acting as the tiebreaker when necessary.
